title: Functional characterization of the recombinant antimicrobial peptide Trx-Ace-AMP1 and its application on the control of tomato early blight disease.
abstract: Ace-AMP1 is a potent antifungal peptide found in onion (Allium cepa) seeds with sequence similarity to plant lipid transfer proteins. Transgenic plants over-expressing Ace-AMP1 gene have enhanced disease resistance to some fungal pathogens. However, mass production in heterologous systems and in vitro application of this peptide have not been reported. In this study, Ace-AMP1 was highly expressed in a prokaryotic Escherichia coli system as a fusion protein. The purified protein inhibited the growth of many plant fungal pathogens, especially Alternaria solani, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum, and Verticillium dahliae. The inhibitory effect was accompanied by hyphal hyperbranching for V. dahliae but not for F. oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum and A. solani, suggesting that the mode of action of Ace-AMP1 on different fungi might be different. Application of Ace-AMP1 on tomato leaves showed that the recombinant protein conferred strong resistance to the tomato pathogen A. solani and could be used as an effective fungicide.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Xiaochun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ge
mesh_terms: D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005658:Fungi / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000382:microbiology*; D019697:Onions / Q000737:chemistry; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D012639:Seeds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: C096657:AMP1 protein, Allium cepa; D000935:Antifungal Agents; D010940:Plant Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins